After the storm, a distinct calm. “The situation is back almost back to normal” inside Francethe prime minister said on Wednesday Elisabeth Borne, after a week of rebellion of the ‘suburbs’ youth. This decline unrest It’s felt in the streets NanterreThis is where this wave of anger started after the death of 17-year-old Nahel M. blank shot By a police officer in this town northwest of Paris. There, the remains of burned cars and graffiti that read “Fuck the police, damn the state” or “A cop and a bullet. Social justice” are still on the streets on billboards.
From 27 June to 3 July, the neighboring country was shaken by an earthquake. urban violence wave With greater intensity than in recent years, such as the three-week riot of the ‘suburbs’ in 2005. balance two dead This represents the most tragic outcome of violent protests (a teenager shot in the chest by police in Marseille and a man killed by a protester’s stray bullet). But what happened after Nahel’s “deliberate murder”? will leave a markat least in the short and medium term.
Christian, 63, who has a son in his 40s who lives in the same neighborhood as the youth who died where the riot started, thinks so. Sitting on a bench smoking a cigarette on a sunny morning in Nanterre. it seems Rastafari expressed fears about the political consequences of these uprisings: “That’s all. Blessed Bread for National Regrouping ( Sailor LePen). He gave arguments to the far right to say that the youth of the ‘suburbs’ were not integrated”.
The escalation of racist expressions
RN and reconquest, islamophobic Eric ZemmourBlow the embers of this new revolt of ‘suburbs’, neighborhoods and surrounding towns where a large percentage of the population is of foreign origin. Despite Le Pen had the ability be discreet – he let the images speak for himself and let others do his dirty work – a wave of rebellion spiral xenophobic remarks and suggestions for a very strong hand in security matters. A reaction advocated by far-right formations and neo-nazi militia patrolling the streets, but also by traditional conservative parties Republicans (LR on PP) and police unions.
After Nahel’s death, the Lepenista leaders did not appear. no mercy for the young who died They focused solely on defending the presumption of innocence of the police officer charged with “deliberate manslaughter” and imprisoned as a precautionary measure. They also held the victim responsible for his own death for disobeying police orders and driving without a license.
As with street violence crescendo The verbal escalation for the first three nights reached dangerous proportions for the rule of law. Majority unions in the police, a body strongly permeated by far-right ideas, issued a statement in which they described the current situation as follows:a war“. Also tagged”wildTo those who started the riots with an average age of 17. A few words that received only very timid criticism from the government.
“Can only favor neo-fascists”
The liberalization of xenophobia and the demonization of the ‘suburbs’ was accompanied by a competition to see which party of the far right and the right would do the right thing. tougher security recommendation. RN demanded “establishing a presumption of self-defense” for any police shot. Marion Marshal – Despite being Le Pen’s nephew, one of the main leaders of Zemmour’s party and very close to Le Pen vox– argued that any citizen has “the right to kill or even kill if someone breaks into his house”. LR president Éric Ciotti suggested: abolish French citizenship to “barbarians” who “attack a town hall or school”.
The right-wing opposition, freed from these reins, has already been mentioned in the Turkish Government’s response. Emmanuel Macron. Although the centrist leader reacted to the teenager’s shocking video of “deliberate murder” by calling it “inexplicable and unjustified”, he hardened his position as nightly riots proliferated. “I don’t believe this at all A new plan to improve the situation in the ‘suburbs’ is the solution“This week the Minister of Economy said, Bruno Le Maire, which says to prioritize “hardness”. The president assured him that he would devise financial sanctions for the families of teenagers who rebelled. And even talked aboutcut off social media“Some of the expressions were later described by the Elysée communications team after they were found to appear quite typical of the leader of an illiberal regime.
The suburban revolt “could only benefit the neo-fascists. But it’s also a problem for those who have accompanied this drift (Macron and the traditional right), and they feel they should do everything possible to reassure the police and ultra.” -right voter “, says sociologist Éric Fassin, an expert on anti-racist issues.”Nobody expects Macron to react like Chirac in 2005.“Adds this professor at the University of Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis. Although the administration later declared a state of emergency after two weeks of rioting, the conservative president referred to those who burned cars as “our children” and denounced “racial discrimination”.
Eighteen years later, it is clear that advancement of far-right ideasespecially on immigration, Islam and the caricature of the suburbs. This limits the authorities’ room for maneuver to confront entrenched issues such as racism or police harassment. And so you root out future social epidemics in these peripheral areas.